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Series VPRS 1666
City Court Index of Convictions
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Date Range: Series ? 1888 - ? 1954
  Series in Custody 1888 - 1954
  Contents 1888 - 1954
Public Access: Open
Location: North Melbourne
Format of Records: Physical
 
Agency which created this SeriesAgency which created this Series
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Date Range Agency Title Agency Number
1888 - 1954 Melbourne Courts VA 518
Agency currently responsible for this SeriesAgency currently responsible for this Series
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Date Range Agency Title Agency Number
1888 - cont Melbourne Courts VA 518
Description of this SeriesDescription of this Series
  • How to use the Records
    This series indexes VPRS 1665 City Court Registers.

    If you already know the date, or the approximate date, on which a petty sessions case was heard, you do not need to look at this index because entries in the Register are chronological by date of hearing.

    If you do not know the date on which a case was heard, this index may help you if the person was convicted of the charge. The index does not include references to cases where the person was not convicted. Look for the surname of the person convicted under the appropriate alphabetical section. You may need to look through the whole alphabetical section to find the entry you are looking for. Make a note of the date of the conviction and, if given, the case number.

    Information about the date of the case will allow you to identify which unit (volume) of the Register to consult and once you have this volume, entries in it will be in case number order.

    Scope of Indexes of Convictions

    Indexes to Convictions were created in most Courts of Petty Sessions from the 1880's until the 1960's. Throughout this period, various circular instructions from the Law Department to Clerks of Courts required them to keep an index by surname of convicted person to all criminal convictions and orders made at their court. This index allowed clerks to find the entry for a particular case in the Court's register. Since the mid 1960's Clerks of Courts have not been required to maintain such an index, although a few courts have continued to use informal indexing systems.

    Although specially printed index books were provided to all courts, the manner in which the index was kept varied from court to court:

    Usually included in the index were:

    ( the names and case details (see below) of all persons found guilty of a criminal charge under Victorian legislation (ie criminal convictions which were entered in the "ordinary" register of the Court of Petty Sessions)

    Sometimes included in the index were:

    ( the names and case details (see below) of all persons found guilty of a criminal charge under Commonwealth legislation (ie criminal convictions which were entered in the Commonwealth Register). These entries were sometimes distinguished from those in the "ordinary" register by being written in red, or by the inclusion in the entry of the letters "Cwth".

    Not usually included in the index were:

    ( references to any civil orders (with the exception of volume 11) or licensing matters

    ( references to defendants in criminal matters who were found not guilty, or where the charges were struck out.

    ( after 1918 entries for convictions for truancy, non-vaccination, drunkenness and non-attendance at drill (under the Commonwealth Defence Act) were not required to be indexed.

    Content and Arrangement

    Each entry in the index gives details of the name of the convicted person, the date of their conviction and the particulars of the offence (in summary form only; often the name of the Act under which the charge was made is given). Some registers also give a reference to the case number in the court register.

    Within each of the twenty-seven alphabetical sections of the index book (there is a section for "Mc"), entries were made in order of the date of the conviction. Hence entries are not in strict lexicographical order. Researchers will need to scan the alphabetical section for the surname of the convicted person they are researching in order to find a reference to the date of the case and/or the case number.

  • Function / Content


  • Recordkeeping System
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Indexes and RegistersIndexes and Registers
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Controlled SeriesControlled Series
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Date Range Series Title Series Number
1888 - 1954 Court of Petty Sessions/Magistrates' Court City Court Register VPRS 1665
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List/s of records in this seriesList/s of records in this series
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Consignment Number Contents Date Range Public Access No. of Units
P0000 1888 - 1946 Open 14
P0001 1944 - 1954 Open 5
Indexes and RegistersIndexes and Registers
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